Oh, and hi! Sorry for the ongoing disappearances. It’s hard to pretend that anything I write can help anything. The spreading race riots don’t help matters. Nor the fact that neither our President nor our Attorney General hold black people to the same moral standard as everyone else.

3 Responses to IMF stands for International Monetary Fund?

Speaking of dumbassery. This here is a copy & paste from an email I just received from our lovely students’ union:

“Dear fellow students,

here is the summary of last days’ events:

On Thursday last week, the university principa´s office and later the
Audimax of Vienna University were shortly occupied by students of
“Development Studies” who fought for the up-keeping of their bachelor
program and against the anti-democratic organization of the university.

In response, the university principal called the police, who brutally
vacated the rooms. The vacation of Audimax was unannounced and more than
150 students, willing to leave immediately and peacefully, had to wait
about an hour while their data including their student ID numbers was
collected by the police. The police, on the other hand, declined to show
their identification badges, despite the fact that they are required by
austrian law to do so. Meanwhile, agents from the Federal Office for
Counter-Terrorism and the Protection of the Constitution were randomly
filming students and the protesters are now facing charges.

The closing of the university buildings during the following days was not
only unnecessary and a hindrance for students wanting to study, but also an
initiative from the principa´s side to hinder uninvolved students to
solidarize with the students of development studies. The present students’
arguments against study fees and their call to stand united for a funding
by the state of Austria were ignored.

The Ministry of Science tries to escape their responsibility while Vienna
University demands the students’ solidarity to put pressure on the Ministry
– with a strategy that does not benefit the students in any way, but
instead puts them under massive strain.

This general situation is unbearable.

There can only be solidarity with a principal who shows solidarity and
understanding for the students’ situation. This is absolutely not the case.
The only way to achieve a fruitful dialogue between the principal and the
students was through pressure from the students’ side. Apparently, this
seems to be the only way to take action: Together we are louder, and we
herewith want to invite you to a proclamation against study fees on
Thursday:

26.4.: 2 o clock p.m. – Main Entrance of Vienna University

Manifestation against the introduction of study fees by the senate and the
principal’s office of Vienna University.

25.4.: 8 o clock p.m. – NIG HS 2

Presentation by Ingolf Erler: Study fees instead of state funding of
universities?

The discussion about study fees continues. The National Council seems not
to be willing to discuss this issue, so the new approach is to introduce
study fees via the universities. But what to think of the opponents and
advocates of study fees? Which ideology stands behind the existing plans?
And are studies more worth, when they are more expensive?

We apologize for the delayed delivery of this newsletter to our
English-speaking colleagues.

Friendly greetings

ÖH Uni Wien”

What they conveniently “forget” to mention is that occupying the Audimax (the largest lecture hall in the main building) with 150 “peaceful” protestors prevented some 600 students from taking an exam there. They also “forget” to say that the rector has been trying to talk with them for a while now. The police was well within their rights to do what they did, primarily because the university is a public building and the protestors had no permit to do this. They’ve already occupied the C1 and C2 lecture halls on campus a while ago, in similar style. Afterwards the entire building was stinking of weed.

I’m not going to comment on “Development Studies”, other than it being a course that pretty much everyone is laughing at. The academic requirements for it are… well… what requirements? It’s a completely worthless course that is, however, pretty overrun. Why? Well, it’s the easiest bachelor you can get at the moment at this university.